plinterred and uprooted. the damage is widespread. dallas county sheriff lupe valdez tells cnn her ofrszs are going house to house, checking on casualties until warnings that more severe storms were on the way. the emergency lasted for hours. this call came into cnn over two hours ago. >> if you go north, there's warnings all over the place. it's raining. people are scrambling to try to get out of the offices just to get home, and now it's caused a big problem, a big problem on the streets. the sirens going on. even if you're not even in the tornado warning places. you don't know which way to go. you really can't decide if you want to make a run home or stay where you are. >> cnn's ed lavendera is on the phone right now from lancaster. what are you seeing where you are right now? >> we have made our way into -- hit hard by the storm that rushed through just a few hours ago. a neighborhood in lancaster, from what we have bib able to see, and it's difficult to navigate with the emergency vehicles and residents trying to figure out what to do next. we have seen several dozen homes that have been heavily hit and destroyed by the storm. several with roofs completely ripped off. just spoke with one woman just a little while ago. she didn't have time to make it into an interior room in her house, jessica. she was in her front bedroom, big window that faced outside. all of a sudden, she said she heard the storm and tornado pushing, she could only duck into the corner of the room and saw blankets as the windows erupted and shattered inside the room. she said, i thought i was about to die. she covered herself up, and incredibly, no cuts. she made it out unhurt, before she knew, the storm had blown through. but i'm standing here in front of her house as we speak now, and all of the windows are out, the shingles ripped apart. several 2 x 4s launched into homes, sticking out of the brick homes as if they're tooth picks. incredible scenes in the isolated areas where the storm did the heaviest damage, and all of this covers a widespread area, pockets of severe disaster that we have found. we're on the southern edge of where all this happened. here in lancaster. >> ed, unbelievable story. we're glad you're safe, and we'll continue reporting as is warranted where the storm has done severe damage. the main line of the storms now is east of dallas. people in the metro area have been able to get outside and survey the damage to the neighborhoods, and they talk about what it was like when the tornado went through. >> it felt like somebody pelting the building with large objects. and i couldn't tell what was going on. i was in the bathroom in the bathtub with the door closed, so there was nothing i could do. too late to go anywhere. safer than where i was. it was not the best afternoon. >> not the best afternoon i'm sure. let's check in with chad myers in cnn's severe weather center. that's the understatement of the afternoon. tell me what's the latest there for the residents in the area 1234. >> well, kind of this big broom has pushed all of the weather to the east of dallas/ft. worth. it's this line of weather right here that has taken all of the moisture and all of the potential energy and shoved it off to the east. and so the real potential is up here to the north of tyler, north of shreveport. that's where the storms could still spin tonight. now that we have pushed away the moisture, the humidity, and the energy, the storms around dallas/f worth won't be as severe as they were today. for a while, this line was back out here. so these super cellular round storms were rolling right through the dallas/ft. worth area. at one point, we had two tornadoes on the ground. one rolled up i-35 and went to i-35 w. one went up i-35 e, the east. it starts in san antonio and ends way up north, and dallas/ft. worth splits the to two. and the two storms, tornadoes on the ground were paralleling each other for miles and miles, about 50 miles apart. so we have warnings for dallas county and tarrant county, and we know that tarrant county, because we didn't have helicopter coverage at that point in time, saw significant damage. probably the most significant damage of the two. but most of the time between 2:00 and 4:00, we were on the air, brooke baldwin and i, and we had tornadoes live on the ground and at times, i'm sure you're going to show the pictures, picking up the semis, the back part of tractor trailers. throwing hundreds of feet in the sky, and showing the power of what the tornadoes really were. luckily at that point, no one was injured because they were parked trucks, not live driving trucks. here we go, i just want you to get a feel that that is not like an ho train car. that's the back part of the tractor trailer you would be driving down the interstate, hoping it doesn't swerve in your lane. look how high these things are thrown in the air and then smashing down about 100, 200 feet downwind. >> it's astonishing. glad that the worst has moved beyond the dallas/ft. worth area. chad myers reporting for us. thanks so much. >> you're welcome. joining us now on the phone is jonathan cooke, who saw two tornadoes, as i understand, touch down. jonathan, thank you for being with us. i understand you're safe now, but tell us if you would, what you saw. >> yeah, this morning, i was in the bank, caught off guard a little bit. had no warning, and saw lightning strike about 50 yards across the street from the bank. and immediately after got some thunder, and then lightning struck again. thunder came, and i said, we need to look out the window and see what's going on. we looked out the window and about that time, hail started coming down. just a little bit bigger than a nickel. so i ran out of the bank, hopped in my truck, and ran across the street to the rest stop, gas station, with people were taking cover under the pumps, and about that time, a guy pulled up with inweather service truck, opened his door, and said, listen to the weather service woorb veto take cover. and a girl said, look up. there were two tornadoes that touched down about an eighth of a mile ahead of us. whenever that happened, sirens went off and the guy came over the city sirens and said take cover. tornado warning. confirms tornadoes on the ground. and then the girl pointed behind us and said, look, there's a third one. and there was a third one. >> where did you go to seek cover? >> we were just under the gas pump awning there. hoping that it didn't come our way. we had a good visual of it. but we really had nowhere to go. so it all happened so fast. we just had to run in the gas station. >> can you describe what it sounded like, what it looked like to you? >> it got really calm. it was raining and hailing like i said, and it busted the guy's tahoe windshield out next to me, and then all of a suzen, the rain and hail ceased. and then whenever the rain and hail stopped, that's when we saw the tornadoes touch down. it got windy and loud, and after everything cleared, i got in my truck and was starting to rush home. i only got about an eighth of a mile up the road before the police had everything blocked off on i-35, because apparently, there were overturned vehicles, and i couldn't even get home, my normal route. they had the highway closed off, down to one lane. >> you must have been terrified. was there some point where you feared for your life? >> i was very scared. i'm not going to act like i wasn't. whether the weather guy pulled up with the weather channel on his radio blaring, he had so sort of two-way radio telling where the storm was. he said it's only about an eighth of a mile from us, those were apparently the first two tornadoes that touched down today. they went on through arlington, and it's dev stating to see the damage they have done today. to a lot of people who were at work, luckily, and didn't get hurt, i haven't hurt any injuries, but i don't remember. i lived here my entire life, and i don't remember seeing any kind of tornadic activity like today. just one after another. >> on your drive home, did you see damage? can you describe anything that you have seen along the way? >> yeah, on my drive home, there were large trees, large tree limb, a lot of leaves scattered across the highway, and tree limbs on the highway. and you know, just right off the highway, on the access road, i saw many roofs taken off homes. there was some tin sheet metal on the highway on the shoulders, that i guess had blown from older buildings that had been built, and piece of their roof blowing off, and on my way home, i saw one more missed cloud funnel that was forming off the highway. that's when the rain picked up again. the second storm came through. and i took shelter underneath an overpass. >> live pictures from dallas affiliate wfaa of some of the damage that the tornadoes wreaked in the neighborhood, just remarkable images there. and as we continue to cover this story, there are tractor trailers that weigh thousands of pounds lifted up and splintered by the storm. we'll tell you how this truck depot is taking stock of their damage. and at the dallas/ft. worth airport, passengers had to be moved to safety. hundreds of flights are kanlsalled or delayed. we're keeping an eye on all of this. fiona here was just telling me that ford dealers sell a new tire like...every five seconds, how's that possible? well, we purchase 3 million a year. you just sold one right now didn't you? that's correct. major brands. 11 major brands. oop,there goes another one. well we'll beat anybody's advertised price. and you just did it right there, what's that called? the low price tire guarantee. wait for it, there goes another one. get a $100 rebate, plus the low price tire guarantee during the big tire event. look at that. it's happening right there every five seconds. your not going to run out are you? no. do about medicare and social security... we'll tell you how this truck me? 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[ male announcer ] aarp is bringing the conversation on medicare and social security out from behind closed doors in washington. because you've earned a say. but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. i was worried it would be hard to install. but it's really easy. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. yeah. you're not... filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. plug into the savings you deserve with snapshot from progressive. we want to get back to the tornadoes in texas. you're looking at live pictures from our affiliate, faa, that shows tremendous damage. 400 flights at dallas/ft. worth international airport have been cancelled, and at one point, all of the passengers inside the airport had to be moved to safety. let's bring in our aviation and regulation correspondent lizzy o'leary. anyone who has flown will know that this means a ripple effect to fliers all over the country, doesn't it? >> it does. and in large part, that's because this is such a big airport. you also have love field there as well. but we're talking about an airport that is essentially a hub for american airlines. hundreds of flights canceled, but generally, 150,000 passengers a day move through dallas/ft. worth. when you have cancellations like this, it causes a ripple effect. you also have planes that need to be inspikted for hail damage. american said they had to inspikt about 68 planes. they're looking a all different aspects of them. there was a storm last summer that caused significant hail damage in denver where you had planes with damage on the wings, on the wing flaps. if hail comes in contact with the planes, they have to inspect them. >> that makes sense. what does the airline do with the passengers inside the building when a tornado hits? >> we saw that when the tornadoes hit the st. louis airport. what they told us is that shelter passengers in place. a lot of that means you go to the place with the thickest walls. that's any part away from glass, bathrooms, stores, in dfw, some of the lower level stuff. you want to get people into basically the most securely constructed area that is possible. it makes sense, but that's what you have to do with hundreds of people. >> and we'll feel the impact of this. >> absolutely. >> thanks so much. >> we'll continue watching the texas storms and bring you the latest pictures and reports of damage from there. plus, it's also primary night in maryland, d.c., and wisconsin, and the republican national committee leader said bragging rights are on the line. we're talking to him next. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. a big day in presidential politics. voters in maryland and the district of columbia have less than twor hours to cast votes in today's presidential primaries. in wisconsin, the polls are open until 9:00 eastern. president obama picked this primary day to ratchet up his attacked on the republicans. but he called one republican by name, mitt romney, with a budget plan that the president called radical, social darwinism, and a trojan horse designed to gut spending on education, research, and the middle class. >> one of my potential opponents, governor romney, said he hoped the similar version of this plan from last year would be introduced as a bill on day one of his presidency. he's very supportive of this new budget. and he even called it marvelous. which is a word you don't often here when it comes to describing a budget. >> our chief political analyst, gloria borger, is here. it's the first time the president has mentioned mitt romney by name. >> it means game on, and it's no surprise that what he's doing is he's trying to tie him to paul ryan, who is the author of a very controversial plan that passed in the house of representatives, which essentially restructures medicare. what strikes me about all this because republicans responded immediately, calling the president outrageous, what strikes me about this is that each side in this presidential campaign really thinks it can win by drawing bright, neon lines in the sand. you know, republicans are making a calculation, they should go to the right. democrats go to the left. >> the president also said that essentially president ronald reagan couldn't win in this gop primary because he said it's so far to the right. is that a winning message for him? >> well, look, i think what the president was doing is kind of ribbing republicans, saying, looking in this primary season, i heard all of you compete for the mantel of ronald reagan. all of you wanted to be ronald reagan redux, and this was a president, a republican president who decided he needed to compromise sometimes and raise taxes sxrk not one of you could win in any of your primaries if you sounded like ronald reagan. i think we'll hear that in the general election as well. >> thanks so much. we'll hear more from you later. >> there's an election. >> and somebody who will have a very different opinion from president obama is republican nationally committee chairman ryans priebus who calls inrace in his hometown pivotal in determining the nominee. thanks for being with us. >> hi. >> hi, today, governor romney seemed concerns that the drawn out primary battle with rick santorum could mean republicans lose this election. he gave an example from recent history, listen to this. >> i think going back to the clinton years, you have to remember it was ross perot that allowed bill clinton to win. and the right thing for us, i think, is to get a nominee as soon as we can, and be able to focus on barack obama. >> looking ahead to tonight, do you think rick santorum in the race is a spoiler? >> no, i actually think we have had a lot of benefits from a little bit longer primary. let's not overdramatize it. we're in the beginning of april and talking about a big night tonight and potentially a few more contests in april. so i think we've taken this narrative further than it needs to go. i think there's a lot of reasons for having an extended primary. i think superpacs play a role. i think people didn't want to campaign over christmas. at the end of the day, we have a republican primary process that has allowed us to accumulate more volunteers, more people going to caucus. >> at the same time, you told the washington post whoever wins in wisconsin, that's tonight, is going to have really serious bragging rights and the vote tonight is pivotal. so that's the closest i have heard you come to playing ref in the primary. if santorum loses wisconsin tonight, should he drop out? >> well, i'm not going to go that far, but obviously, who knows what is going to happen tonight. i really don't want to influence the vote in wisconsin. here is what i think. i think wisconsin has been in the cross hairs here for many years, especially over the last year. i think the people there are very sophisticated politically. they're very in tune with voting. you're going to see turnout very high today in wisconsin. and ultimately, the winner out of this contest because it has been so hyped up in the media, which it should be, that person is going to have some serious bragging rouths, as i told the washington post, and i believe that. and we'll see the fallout of tonight tomorrow, and i'll leave it at that as opposed to me predicting what might happen. >> hmm, that's very leading. the fallout, we'll follow that. you're very close with wisconsin congressman paul ryan, who hasn't closed the door on being a potential vice presidential pick. do you think he would make a good vp? >> of course, but i'm going to leave it up to the nominee. i think as opposed to the president's pageantry in speeches, i think paul ryan is a guy who is actually somebody of his word who follows through on promises as opposed to giving speeches that are think, are in mine mind, the president's speeches are becoming like a saturday night skit where you make fun of the guy who is proposing something serious when the person giving the speech, the president, hasn't proposed anything serious that any democrat would vote for themselves. and i don't know how many years. so hard to make fun of a guy that proposed a budget to fix the problems when you didn't propose a thing and you're supposed to be the president of the united states. >> they would take issue with that. they put out a budget. >> and no democrat voted for it. >> they say what was on the floor was a gimmick. we can disagree with that for forever. >> they didn't agree with it because it was a joke. >> the president went after mitt romney for the first time. we'll play some of what the president said. >> this congressio